Think click-and-order and brick-and-
mortar can't live in harmony? While on-
line behemoths like Amazon dominate
the e-commerce space, small businesses
are learning how to cash in on consumers'
on-the-go online shopping habits.
If you haven't entered into e-commerce
or you're looking to optimize your online
store, read on to learn how you can cash in
on the online shopping trend in this month's
article, "E-commerce Startup Guide."
DELIVER A PREMIUM
USER EXPERIENCE
Shopper confidence can be won or lost
the moment someone hits your site. If
you don't have a great-looking site that
includes all the elements that shoppers
have come to expect from a modern
e-commerce site, it will be difficult to con-
vince anyone that you have a legitimate
business that can be trusted with credit
card information!
In addition to the important first im-
pression that your branding and general
site aesthetics can make, it is important
that you consider overall website naviga-
tion and usability. The study of usability
has become both an art and a science; and
if you work with an industry provider,
you'll reap the benefits of the research that
they've conducted to create navigation, site
structure and other features, including so-
phisticated search tools that are the most
intuitive to the industry's average users.
If you're tasked with creating your
own user experience, just remember that
the goal of usability is to make your web-
site navigation so intuitive that your site
visitors don't have to use any brain power
18 MAY 2015 OUTDOOR POWER EQUIPMENT www.outdoorpowerequipment.com
FEATURE STORY | Website Solutions
IMAGE
©ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/LDPROD
E-commerce
Startup Guide
How to optimize your online store
to complement your brick-and-mortar store
■ BY COLLEEN MALLOY
